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Major Influences on Gothic Architecture
from Gothic Architecture
Romanesque architecture had a major influence and many architectural features associated with Gothic style were derived from Romanesque's. Line, ribbed vaults, buttresses. clustered columns. ambulatories, wheel windows. spires. stained glass windows, and richly carved door tympana. These were already featuring of ecclesiastical architecture before the develop merit of the Gothic style and all were to develop in increasingly elaborate ways .
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• It was also influenced by theological doctrines which called for more interior light as a symbol of divinity, and by the practical necessity of many churches to accommodate large numbers of pilgrims Hence larger openings more use of glass was incorporated.
• It was especially by technical improve merits in vaulting and buttresses which allowed much greater height and larger windows.
Architecture Character of Gothic Style
Externally, towers and spires are characteristic of Gothic churches. These cathedrals were the skyscrapers of that day and would have been the largest buildings by far that Europeans would ever have seen. A pointed arch, the ribbed vault, and the buttress were the defining features of the architecture.
• The Gothic style brought innovative new construction techniques that allowed churches and other buildings to reach great heights. • The structural parts of the building ceased to be its solid walls and became a stone skeleton due to developed architectural features like pointed arches. The slender columns and lighter systems of thrust allowed for larger windows and more light compared to Romanesque architecture.
The flying buttress (arc-boutant, arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey to the ground, the lateral forces that push a wall outwards, which are forces that arise from vaulted ceilings of stone and from windloading on roofs.
A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown, whose two curving sides meet at a relatively sharp angle at the top of the arch. This architectural element was particularly important in Gothic architecture.
Ribbed Vault : Complex intersection of 2 or 3 vaults decorated with piped masonry
Fan Vault :Predominant in English Gothic churches.the ribs are of equal curvature and rotated around a central (vertical) axis.
Architecture Character of Gothic Style : Roofs
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows are divided into sections of various proportions by stone bars or ribs of molding. The special ornaments of the period are the Tudor rose, the portcullis, and the fleur-de-lis. Rose windows were a characteristic of the Gothic facade with tinted painted glass.
